Safety controlling apparatus for aeroplanes.



T. M. DANIELS. SAFETY CONTROLLING APPARATUS FOR AEROPLANES. APPLICATION FILED APR-23.1912.

1,153,035. PatentedSept. T, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

ATTORNEYS TIM. DANl EtS. SAFETY CONTROLLING APPARATUS FOR AEROPLANES.

APPLICATION FILED APR.23,19I2.

Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

WITNESSES: A/ J. Low/(4L, W

ATTORNEYS T. M. DANIELS.

SAFETY CONTROLLING APPARATUS FOR AEROPLA'NES. APPLICATION FILED APR. 23, 1912.

1,153,035, PatentedSept. 7, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

W/T/VESSES: I lM/E/VTOI? Mia/MM v arlwmrmwnm- V (/4! v l 1 momma THOMAS M. DANIELS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SAFETY CONTROLLING ArrARA'rUs FOB. AEROPLANESV.

. I App1ication'fi1ed April 23, 1912. Serial No. 692,602.

1 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS MARION DANIELS, a citizen ofthe United States, and

a resident of Chicago, in the countyof Cook its own position, and failing that, its posi tion may be corrected wholly or in part by the operator.

More particularly stated, I provide a machine with propellers having adjustable blades and disposed with their axes normally vertical, but free to swing in planes crossing the general plane of rotation of the propeller blades, and separate mechanisms,

' one coiitrollable by hand at the will of the operator, and the other controllable automatically by movement of a weight carried by the machine for shifting the positions of the said propellers in order to correct the position of the entire machine.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of refer-' ence ndlcatecorrespondlng parts 1n all the figures, and in.-wh1ch Figure 1 is a plan view of an aeroplane completeand provided with my improved balancing propellers; Fig. 2 is a substantially vertical longitudinal section through the machine shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 33 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 4 is a detail of one of the propellers provided with adjustable blades and with means wherebythe sameare adjusted; Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, and showing the addition of certain parts; and Fig.6 is a detail showing the centrally disposed propeller provided with adjustable blades.

At 7 is the general framework sometimes designated as the car body, and at'8 are caster forks in which are journaled wheels 9 by aid whereof the machine may alight without injury. The framework comprises standards 10, 10*, the standards 10 inclining outwardly from each other at their tops as will be understood from Fig. 3 and being provided adjacent to their tops with bearings 11, as indicated in said figure; A supporting plane is shown at 12 and is secured Specification of-Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

to, the tops of the standards 10. Mounted upon the under side of the plane 12 and depending therefrom is a hanger 14 carrying a bearing 13. Another hanger 15 is mounted uponv the under side of the plane 12, and for this purpose is provided with a foot 16. The hanger 15 carries a bearing 17 A shaft 18 extends through the bearing 17 and atits upper end is provided with a bevel gear 19.

The shaft 18 is further provided, adjacent 4 to its lower end, with a bevel gear 20. A bearing 2l, mounted upon the floor of the car, serves asa'support for the lower end of the shaft 18. Abevel gear 22 meshes with the bevel gear 20 and is turned by an engine 23. A fly wheel 24 is associated. with the bevel gear 22 and is driven also by the engine 23'. v,

Disposed below the supporting plane 12 are two bearings 26, 27, which are in alinement with the bearing 13. A shaft- 25 eX- tends through all three of thesebearings,

and also through a bearing 25 which is carried upon standard 1O immediately at therear of the engine 23. "The shaft 25 carries a propeller 28 which may be ofithe usual or any desired construction. Mounted rigidly upon the shaft 25 are bevel gears 29,

30, the gear 30 meshing with the bevel gear 19. Meshing with the bevel gear 29 are two othervbevel gears 32 mounted respectively upon shafts 33 disposed in line with'eaeh other and extending outwardlyin opposite directions from the center of the machine.-

Each, shaft 33 carries at its outer end a bevel gear 34 mounted rigidly upon it. This bevel gear meshes with another bevel gear 35 carried by a short shaft 36, theaxis of rotation of which is normally vertical. Slidably mounted upon the shaft 36 is a collar 37 A pair of links 38 is pivotally mounted upon the collar 37 and extended obliquely outward in opposite directions, each link 38 being pivotally connected with a propeller blade 39. These propeller blades 39 are each mounted to turn upon its own horizontal 'aXis, or in other words, to change the inclination thereof according to the position of the collar 37 relatively to the ends ofthe shaft 36 upon which it is movable.- The up per endof the, shaft 36 is provided with a square head 40 and extending through this head are pins 40 by aid whereof the blades are journaled and thus adapted to change their inclination, as stated.

F orthe purpose of shifting the collar" 37 relatively to the shaft 36, I provide a fork 41', this fork being journaled upon a bracket 43 by aid of a pivot pin 42. The fork 41 is practically formed into a bell crank lever as will be understood from Fig. 3, and the lower end of this bell crank lever is pivotally connected to a rod 44 extending obliquely downwardly. There are two of these rods 44. At 45 are two rails mounted upon the floor of the car and extending crosswise thereof and parallel [with each other. En

gaging these rails are grooved wheels 46 which support a'framework 47, the latter being movable in the general direction of thelength of'the rails 45. Connected with opposite sides of the frame work 47 are links 48 which are pivotedto levers 49, these levers being j ournaled in bearings 50.

A seat 51 is mounted upon the frame work 47 and is adapted to be occupied by the operator druing the flight of the machine.

' Vhen the seat 51, with the weight of the operator upon it, is moved to the right or the left according to Fig. 3, the levers 49 are shifted accordingly, one of the rods 44 being moved obliquely upward, and the other rod 44 being moved obliquely downward. The movements of these respective rods tilt the bell crank levers 41, causing one of the collars 37 to be raised and the seat 51 and of the operator sitting upon said seat back into normal position, regard being had to the fact, of course, that the blades 39 have rotary motion given them by virtue of the power of the-engine'23.

The standard 10 is provided at its upper end with a; fork 13 naled to'this. fork is a swinging" yoke 13. Extending through the fork 13 and yoke l3 is a shaft 52 serving. as" a pivot upon which. the yoke 13 is adapted to swing. Mounted rigidly upon the shaft 52-is a bevel gear 53 which meshes with a bevel g'ear'54.

Mounted integrally upon the yoke 13 and" extending upwardly therefrom is an arm 55 carrying at its outer end apivot pin 56 which supports a bell crank lever 57. A weight 58 is mounted upon this bell crank the air.

(see 6), and jour'r lever andhangs freely. Thebell crank lever 57 is provided, opposite its end carrying'the weight 58, with a forked portion which engages a collar 59. This collar encircles a shaft 60 and is movable in the general direction of the length of the latter. Links A tiller post 71 supports a rudder 72, these.

parts being. disposed below a supporting plane 73 and being of the usual or any preferred construction;

The operator, after shifting the hand lever 68 into different angular positions, may secure said lever by aid of the pawl 69. By shifting the hand lever 68 into different positions, the arm 55, and with it the yoke 13*, is swung into different angular positions, the result being that the shaft 60 carrying the propeller blades 69 is shifted to difierent angles relatively to the framework of the machine. The weight 58- tends to hang directly downward independently of. any inclination of the aeroplane. If,

therefore, the machine is raised so that the' -weight 58 assumes a position parallel with the axis of theshaft 60, the collar 59 is in consequence moved toward the upper end of the shaft 60 and the propeller blades are, therefore, caused to assume a common plane which coincides with the plane of rotation. In other words, each blade 65 now presents little, if any, angular'surface to the wind, each blade edgewise cutting through Suppose,.however, that the machine tilts so that its forward end points downwardly at an abrupt angle as compared with its. horizontal position (see Fig. 2). The weight, still tending to hang vertically downwardly, shifts the position of the collar 59 away from the upper end of the shaft 60. This causes the links 61' to turn the blades 65 each upon its own longitudinal axis so that the blades are inclined, as indicated in Fig. 6, the degree of inclination being related tothe slant of the machine and "being greater as the dip of the machine is increased. The operator, by manipulating the hand lever 68, can move the arm 55 upon theshaft 52 as a center and'may lock the arm 55 in any desired position within certain, limits. Indoing this he can, within proper limits,tilt the shaft 60 forward or backward. The weight 58 works automatically in icausing the blades 65 .to be adjusted properly, yet in extreme cases the operator may, by manipulating the hand lever 68, cause the weight 58 to increase or diminish the automatic adjustment of the blades 65.

From the foregoing description it will be noted that the propellers disposed upon opposite sides of the machine and comprising the propeller blades 39 are adjusted automatically by virtue of the weight of the seat 51 and the operator sitting thereupon, this weight being shifted to one side or the other by the side or lateral tilting ofthe machine, the adjustment of the blades 39 being such as to correct the inclination of the machine and bring the seat 51 carrying the operator back to normal position. Again, if the machine dips abruptly downward, as indicated in Fig. 2, the propeller blades 65, under control of the weight 58, adjust automatically to such an extent and in such a direction as to afford a greater or lesser depressing effect on .the rear end of the machine, thereby tending to correpttheposition of the machine and to prevent a dangerous alighting thereof. I do not limit myself to the precise type comprising a framework, a propeller shaft supported thereby, a propeller mounted upon said propeller shaft, means for turn-' ing said propeller shaft-in order to actuate said propeller, mechanism controllable by hand for shifting said propeller shaft to different angles relatively to said framework, and means controllable by gravity for adjusting the blades of said propellerautomatically,

2. A device of the character described comprising a car provided with planes and adapted to be carried through the air, a proi mechanismconnected with said weight and peller shaft extending from said car, and movable to different angles relatively to the latter, a propeller on the shaft, an arm for shifting said propeller shaft to diflerent angles relatively to said car, means controllable at will forshifting said arm to difi'erentangular positions, a' weight journaled upon said arm'and depending; from the same,kand

controllable thereby for changing the pitch of said propeller in orderto vary the power thereof.

35 In a flying machine, a frame-work, an adjustable propeller, intermediate of the sides of the frame-work and provided with,

adjustable blades, means controlled by gravity for adjusting the blades when said frame-work dips downwardly, a propeller on each side of the frame-work and provided with adjustable blades, and mechanism controlled by gravity for adjusting the blades of one propeller in one direction and those of the other in the opposite direction when the frame-work tilts laterally.

4. In a flying machine, a frame-work, a pivoted propeller shaft intermediate of the sides of the frame-work, means for shifting the propeller shaft to different angles relatively to the frame-work, a propeller on the shaftand having adjustable blades, means controlled by gravity for adjusting the blades of the propeller when the frame-work dips'downwardly, a propeller shaft at each side of the frame-work, propellers on the shafts and having adjustable blades, and

mechanism controlled by gravity for adjusting. the blades of one propeller in one direction and those of the other in the opposite direction when the frame-work tilts laterally.

5. In a flying, machine, a frame-work, a transversely extending track on the framework, a seat mounted to travel on the track, a propeller shaft at each side of the framework, a propeller on each shaft having adjust'able blades, ollars slidable on the said shafts, links connecting the collars with the blades of the propellers, pivoted bell crank levers each having one member engaging a collar, crank arms at opposite sides of the frame-Work, links connecting the seat with thecrank arms, and rods connecting the crank arms with the bell-crank levers.

6.- In a flying machine, a frame, a shaft having a bevel gear wheel thereon, a yoke loosely mounted on theshaft, a shaft mounted in the yoke and'having a bevel gear wheel meshing with the gear wheel of the said shaft, a propeller on the shaft of the yoke and having pivoted blades, a collar slidable on said shaft, links connecting the collar-with'the blades, a pivoted bell crank having one member weighted and its other member engaging the said collar, and means for swinging the said'yoke -7. Ina flying machine, a frame, a pivoted yoke, means for swinging the yoke, a shaft mounted in the yoke, a propeller mounted on the shaft and having pivoted blades, a collar slidable upon the shaft, links connecting the collar with-the blades, and a pivoted bell crank having one member weighted and its other member engaging'the said collar. 8. In aifiying machine, a frame, a pivoted member, pivoted vanes carried by the said member, a slidable member carried by the pivoted member, links connecting the slidable member and vanes, and a pivoted and weighted member engaging the slidable member. Y i

9. In a flying machine, a frame, a pivoted member providedwith a. lateral arm, pivoted vanes carried by the pivoted member, a slidable member carried by the pivoted member, links connecting the vanes With the slidable member, a pivoted and Weighted elbow arm engaging the slidable member, a hand lever, and a link connecting the hand lever with the arm of said pivoted member. I

THOMAS M. DANIELS. Witnesses JESSE E. ROBERTS,- GEORGE H. EMsLIE.

this specification in the presence of 

